STUTTGART, West Germany: Italian soccer manager Azeglio Vicini, who has already achieved one win over the Soviet Union this season, said on Monday his team would not underestimate the Russians in Wednesday’s European championship semifinal.
Italy defeated the Soviet Union 41 in a friendly in Bari last February, with striker Gianluca Vialli scoring twice. But this gives Vicini no cause for complacency.
“We are not taking the Russians lightly. They have played very well up till now. We have great respect for them and won’t underestimate them,” he said at the team’s pre-match base on the outskirts of Stuttgart.
“You can’t talk about weakness with any team who has reached the semifinals. They are strong in midfield and attack. But if there are any weaknesses I hope we can exploit them.
“They have seven or eight players from Dynamo Kiey and are a solid, compact team”.
HELSINKI, Reuter: World champion Sergei Bubka and Aquita will take part in the world games athletics grand prix meeting on June 30, meeting director Kari Waukonen said.
Waukonen said Bubka, who increased his own world record to 800 meters this month, would be among a team of seven Soviets.
He said world record holder Rouita was likely to run in the 1,500 meters. Moroccan Aquita is also world champion, Olympic champion and world record holder over 5,000 meters.
EAST BERLIN, Reuter: East Germany picked almost all their top men and women for the first East-West ‘German athletics meeting in Dusseldorf on Sunday and Monday.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 24, 1988
